Introduction
Humanitarian Cosmology and Mythology
Chapter 1
Humanitarian Culture, Traditions, and Theories
Chapter 2
Humanitarian Genesis and Gravity: Solferino to Biafra and
African Famine
Chapter 3
The New Wars and New Humanitarianisms of the 1990s:
Northern Iraq, Somalia, Rwanda, and the Balkans
Chapter 4
Humanitarianism and Security: The Responsibility to
Protect
Chapter 5
Humanitarianism Adjudicated: The International Criminal
Court
Chapter 6
Humanitarianism in the Post-9/11 World: Afghanistan,
Iraq, Libya, and Syria
Chapter 7
Humanitarianism Forgotten and Forsaken: Darfur, South
Sudan, Uganda, and Neglected Victims
Chapter 8
Humanitarian Limbo: Displaced Populations, Protracted
Situations, Contested Camps
Chapter 9
The Humanitarian-Industrial Complex: Media and
Markets
Chapter 10
Humanitarianism Unbound: Public Health Disasters and
Environmental Emergencies
Chapter 11
The Study and Practice of Humanitarianism: Making Sense
and Finding Meaning in Saving People
Peter J. Hoffman is Julien J. Studley Faculty Fellow and
assistant professor in The Graduate Program in International
Affairs, The New School. Thomas G. Weiss is Presidential
Professor of Political Science at The Graduate Center, The City
University of New York.
Hoffman and Weiss do a masterful job of analyzing unfolding changes
in bedrock principles that produce the shifting sands of politics
seen in ideas, actions, and results... Humanitarianism, War, and
Politics is absolutely essential reading for both academics and
humanitarian practitioners
*Jan Egeland, Secretary-General, Norwegian Refugee Council, and
former UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and
Emergency Relief Coordinator*
The early decades of the 21st century have witnessed a
profound crisis in humanitarianism, marked not only by the
shrinking space within which humanitarian actors now work, but also
by declining funding and political support. In Humanitarianism, War
and Politics, Hoffman and Weiss give us both an interpretive
'toolkit' and historically-informed analysis to explain why
and how humanitarianism is under siege. They illuminate the various
forms of power that underpin humanitarian action, and how the
inescapably political process of allocating rights, relief and
refuge has been affected by the changing nature of armed conflict.
The book is essential reading for those seeking to understand the
roots of humanitarianism's current malaise, as well as for those
endeavoring to reinvigorate humanitarianism, and enhance its
impact, in the years ahead.
*Jennifer Welsh, Professor and Chair in International Relations,
European University Institute and former Special Adviser to the UN
Secretary-General on the Responsibility to Protect*
Humanitarianism has a complicated history. It is a project
that refuses to be a bystander to a world that creates and accepts
so much needless suffering. While its motives might be high-minded,
the action itself is filled with moral compromises, failures, and
human and political limits. This is a difficult story to
tell, requiring not cynicism but sobriety along with elements of
hope. Hoffman and Weiss's Humanitarianism, War, and Politics
captures this history and its ambiguities. Highs and
lows. Accomplishments and failures. And, ultimately,
having to make tough and rotten choices.
*Michael Barnett, University Professor, George Washington
University*
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